Only if you've finished it *SPOILERS*

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DexterTan

Active Member
Feb 26, 2014
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Melbourne
Favourite quotes:

"What are you doing?"
"Therapy!"

The line about being a multi tasker had me laughing out loud.

There are some books I haven't read of King but this is probably the first time I've read King writing Crime Fiction. And it was GOOD.

I compare it to "best sellers" in the same genre and King leaves 'em for dead.

Happy Slapper to everyone!
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
It was no 11/22/63 (more on that later though)
Yeah but what is? IT. That's all. The Stand gets close.

I have just finished Mr Mercedes, and like many others, I would say a good solid 7.5/10 - But on a scale where the afore mentioned IT and 11/22/63 are 10/10, and the Stand is a 9.5, that's not too shabby. I liked it. A few negatives would be:

The lack of King's famous character development - I felt only Brady was developed with any kind of depth, and a good bulk of that came in one lump sum. Ok, granted, for this kind of story, Brady is probably the only one who needs this.

Jerome's 'stereotypical' black speak (Massa Hodges etc) - I get that it was a put on, a joke, and I sure as hell weren't offended by it, it just annoyed me reading, much the same as Detta Walker did in Drawing Of The 3.

Also, King's descriptions of technology. I may sound like I'm being harsh on our Master here, but when Steve describes technology it's a bit cringeworthy. It's like he's saying in big letters "look everyone, I've done my research, I know how these things work". It's a bit "try hard". Sorry Steve.

Overall, I felt the narative was good, I enjoyed the all too brief fling with Janey, I agree with Chazel - she was a much thinned out
Sadie
but I still liked her, same with Holly - a bit thin on the ground, and seemed rushed, but still an enjoyable (but weird) character. Maybe if he had another 200 pages, things could have been fleshed out a bit. Just reading over this post, I didn't mean for it to sound too negative, because that's not the feeling I got. I enjoyed reading Mr Mercedes. I also applaud the fact that he wrote a crime novel with all the big reveals (who, how, why, etc) within the first few chapters of the book, and concentrated on the cat and mouse game.
 

Lord Tyrion

Well-Known Member
Oct 24, 2013
1,582
6,257
Yeah but what is? IT. That's all. The Stand gets close.

I have just finished Mr Mercedes, and like many others, I would say a good solid 7.5/10 - But on a scale where the afore mentioned IT and 11/22/63 are 10/10, and the Stand is a 9.5, that's not too shabby. I liked it. A few negatives would be:

The lack of King's famous character development - I felt only Brady was developed with any kind of depth, and a good bulk of that came in one lump sum. Ok, granted, for this kind of story, Brady is probably the only one who needs this.

Jerome's 'stereotypical' black speak (Massa Hodges etc) - I get that it was a put on, a joke, and I sure as hell weren't offended by it, it just annoyed me reading, much the same as Detta Walker did in Drawing Of The 3.

Also, King's descriptions of technology. I may sound like I'm being harsh on our Master here, but when Steve describes technology it's a bit cringeworthy. It's like he's saying in big letters "look everyone, I've done my research, I know how these things work". It's a bit "try hard". Sorry Steve.

Overall, I felt the narative was good, I enjoyed the all too brief fling with Janey, I agree with Chazel - she was a much thinned out
Sadie
but I still liked her, same with Holly - a bit thin on the ground, and seemed rushed, but still an enjoyable (but weird) character. Maybe if he had another 200 pages, things could have been fleshed out a bit. Just reading over this post, I didn't mean for it to sound too negative, because that's not the feeling I got. I enjoyed reading Mr Mercedes. I also applaud the fact that he wrote a crime novel with all the big reveals (who, how, why, etc) within the first few chapters of the book, and concentrated on the cat and mouse game.

I agree with the critique of character development, especially Holly. Her inclusion was rushed.

I would disagree on the technology part. Since Hodges is a detective, he has to be thorough about the nuances of the gadgets he comes across. It added to the cat and mouse element. Also, Hodges doesn't really understand new technology so it had to be carefully explained to him. This dynamic helped give the Jerome/Hodges relationship a bit of a Sherlock Holmes/Waston vibe with each character having a needed expertise.
 

The Nameless

M-O-O-N - That spells Nameless
Jul 10, 2011
2,080
8,261
42
The Darkside of the Moon (England really)
I agree with the critique of character development, especially Holly. Her inclusion was rushed.

I would disagree on the technology part. Since Hodges is a detective, he has to be thorough about the nuances of the gadgets he comes across. It added to the cat and mouse element. Also, Hodges doesn't really understand new technology so it had to be carefully explained to him. This dynamic helped give the Jerome/Hodges relationship a bit of a Sherlock Holmes/Waston vibe with each character having a needed expertise.
Oh yeah, I totally understand why he did it, and that it fitted the character, I was talking in general though - it's a theme I've noticed in many books and stories. Sometimes the descriptions are needed to portray a character's lack of knowledge, but not always. For instance he would write something like "he clicked the button with the fox wrapped around a globe to launch Firefox" when "he opened the internet" would be fine. That would come through to me as Stephen trying to show he knows all about different web browsers, like I said, it seems a bit "try hard". I'm sure people will think it shows that extra attention to detail that sets him apart as the best, and I know how nit-picky I must sound, but it's still cringe worthy....to me anyway.
 

Cristian M

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
184
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Bucharest, Romania
To everyone about to read the book or having read the printed book / ebook : please give the audiobook a try, too, it gives new dimensions to the story, the reader is very good and interprets well the different characters in the novel.
 

Cristian M

Well-Known Member
Mar 2, 2014
184
456
47
Bucharest, Romania
Solid book, not an epic, but a good middle of the pack fill.

We can't honestly expect King to crank out "The Stand" every year can we?

It was a little slow for me (I read the letter, watched the preview, etc. before buying the book) so I kind of knew the beginning. I didn't find it particularly scary, but I was excited all the way up until the last little bit, in which I felt like a kid waiting for the end of the horror movie where the monster comes back. I would recommend it, of course, but I doubt it'll need a re-read for quite a while. Although I will say, The entire scene about Brady's mentally challenged brother is the first time King ever made something HARD to read, it was so awful that I literally wanted to stop imagining it.

3.5/5, good addition to my bookshelf.
I haven't read yet The Stand, please let me know why do you consider it a masterpiece and how it compares to IT novel. Thanks.
 

Mr Nobody

Well-Known Member
Jul 9, 2008
3,306
9,050
Walsall, England
Guess you can't keep a good zombie (thread) down...

My take on the use of 'perk' instead of 'perp' was simply that it was a sign that, while Brady thought of himself as some kind of mastermind, in reality he was nothing really special, just very knowledgeable in certain areas (in the same way that pretty much everyone is).

I liked Jerome. His antics were fairly amusing in small doses, but were annoying in places. Good character all the same.

All in all I thought it was a solid enough crime thriller, bordering on very good, considering it's somewhat outside the author's usual field. I've read worse by people who are successful crime/thriller writers, that's for sure. But there were also typical SK elements that touched upon horror.
The poisoning, for one.
Not many crime novels are so graphic, at least outside of the usual sterile, clinically objective viewpoint. SK really got down into the wet of it.
Then there was Frankie. That part was tough to read.

I'll admit it took me a while to get through, but that was more down to me not being in much of a reading mood for a while than anything else, and it was good enough to make me look forward to the next one. (I hadn't realized it was part one of a proposed series/trilogy.)
 

leke

Member
Jul 23, 2013
13
35
Being that this will be a trilogy I feel we will get more character development in the next novel, Finders Keepers". I liked Kings attempt to describing technology being a software programmer myself I was impressed a little. The trio worked very well together. I could so relate to Jerome, I'm African American, was a bit of a nerd that would hide it from friends, and also an athlete in HS. Holly the recluse needed both hodges and Jerome and in some ways became the heroine in the end.
 

Ves-Ka Gan

Active Member
Feb 9, 2015
39
151
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Well, turns out I was right about thinking the editors thought it was intentional so didn't point it out. I asked Steve yesterday and he didn't realize it hadn't been caught with Spellcheck and confessed it's one of those words that he often spells wrong. I've been in touch with his editors at Scribner and it will most likely be fixed in future printings but possibly not until the paperback is released. Color all of us embarrassed! :smile:
I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even notice the misspelling! I didn't enjoy the book as much as others I've read but I also couldn't put it down at some points. It's not one of his best but well worth reading. I love it that you're in touch with sk and can ask him these little things.
 
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